Kanye West Sues Insurers for $10 Million

LOS ANGELES (CN) – Rapper Kanye West slapped his insurers with a $10 million federal lawsuit, claiming they refuse to pay claims for canceled dates of his “San Pablo” tour and leaked details of his medical condition to the press in violation of nondisclosure agreements.

West filed a federal complaint on Tuesday through his company Very Good Touring against several insurers in the Lloyd’s of London market including the Cathedral, Liberty, Catlin, Markel and Allianz syndicates.

The rapper accuses the insurers of refusing to pay out, or denying, his $10 million claims for canceled tour dates in late 2016. West says a “debilitating medical condition” caused him to skip the remaining dates in support of his seventh album “The Life of Pablo.” The tour was originally scheduled to end on New Year’s Eve 2016.

West canceled dates in November and December after he ended up in hospital on Nov. 21, 2016. The hospitalization came two days after a show at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California, where he was 30 minutes late and once on the stage launched into a rant against Beyoncé, Jay Z and Hillary Clinton.

That same month, Very Good submitted a claim to insurers. But eight months later, they have yet to pay up, the lawsuit says.

The insurers have implied that “Kanye’s use of marijuana may provide them with a basis to deny the claim and retain hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums paid by Very Good. The stalling is emblematic of a broader modus operandi of the insurers of never-ending post-claim underwriting where the insurers hunt for some contrived excuse not to pay,” the 15-page lawsuit says.

West accuses the insurers of attempting to intimidate him into not taking legal action by leaking confidential information about his medical condition to the press.

“Planting the confidential information with news outlets represents an egregious violation of written nondisclosure agreements that defendant insurers and their agents signed, covering such information to which they were privy,” the complaint states.

Three insurance companies have honored the obligations to pay Very Good for the canceled shows, West adds.

He seeks $9,860,843.51 in damages in a complaint for breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

He is represented by Howard King of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, who declined to comment.